A young boy named Laurent Lepage runs through the woods outside a small Quebec village. He imagines that he is being chased and is protecting the village. Laurent is surprised to stumble across something unexpected in the woods, but the narrative does not yet reveal what he finds.

On a beautiful September afternoon, the residents of the village of Three Pines gather together. Armand Gamache, formerly the head of the Sureté de Quebec police force, has recently retired and moved to Three Pines with his wife, Reine-Marie. Meanwhile, some villagers discuss their upcoming participation in an amateur theatrical production run by Antoinette Lemaitre and her partner, Brian Fitzpatrick. Titled She Sat Down and Wept, the play was written by someone named John Fleming. Gamache is taken aback when he learns the playwright’s name, but reasons that “it couldn’t be the same man […] it’s a common name. He was seeing ghosts where none existed” (15). Suddenly, young Laurent Lepage interrupts the gathering, claiming that he has found a huge gun in the woods. The adults gently dismiss this claim, especially since Laurent is known for making up wild stories.